There are many different infant nutritional formulas that are commercially available or otherwise known in the infant formula art. These infant formulas comprise a range of nutrients to meet the nutritional needs of the growing infant, and typically include lipids, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins. minerals, and other nutrients helpful for optimal infant growth and development.
Most of these nutritional infant formulas are designed to assimilate or duplicate the composition and function of human milk. It is generally recognized, however, that human milk is preferred over synthetic infant formulas for the feeding of infants. It is also known that human milk provides improved immunological benefits to the breastfed infant, as well as long-term benefits in the area of certain cognitive developments.
It is also well known that the composition of human milk changes over the first few weeks following delivery of an infant. Human milk is referred to as colostrum during the first 5 days after birth, transition milk during days 6-14 after birth, and mature milk thereafter, and during each stage of lactation, the corresponding human milk composition differs considerably. Colostrum and transition milk, for example, have lower caloric densities than mature milk, as well as higher protein and lower carbohydrate concentrations. Vitamin and mineral concentrations also vary in the three defined human milk groups.
Most commercial infant formulas are similar in composition, although not identical, to mature human milk, and are used in both newborns as well as older infants. It is generally believed that the nutrient composition and higher energy content of mature milk, and thus the nutrient composition and higher energy content of most commercial infant formulas, benefit newborn infants given the rapid growth rate of infants during the initial weeks of life. In short, it has heretofore been accepted that the feeding of newborn infants should be conducted with an emphasis on encouraging infant growth, and that such growth is best accomplished via the feeding with commercial infant formulas having a similar nutrient and energy content to mature human milk.
It has now been observed, however, that formula-fed newborn infants might benefit from a feeding having a lower energy density, and perhaps more importantly, from a feeding that provides fewer calories during the initial weeks or months of life than would otherwise be provided from a feeding with a conventional infant formula. We have found from our long term infant studies that rapid early growth, achieved in large part from nutrient enriched feedings from conventional infant formulas, may result in long-term adverse health effects in individuals later in life, particularly with regard to long-term vascular health relevant to the development of atherosclerosis and to the later propensity to insulin resistance and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), while slower growth in newborn infants, achieved in large part from feeding human milk or formula with a modified carbohydrate, fat and protein calorie distribution (e.g., higher protein, lower caloric density), can have a beneficial effect in the form of reduced occurrence of markers of adult morbidity.
It was also observed in the infant studies described herein that formula fed infants had a greater weight gain during the initial weeks of life than breastfed infants, and so it could be that the suggested long-term beneficial effects of breast-feeding on cardiovascular health could be a consequence of the lower nutrient intake of breastfed infants during this critical early window, e.g., the initial weeks or months of life.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an infant formula designed for newborn infants that provides for optimal nutrition of these children, especially during the initial weeks or months of life, including the first few weeks of life. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an infant formula having a nutrient composition designed for optimal long-term health benefits, especially as such a formula is directed to the newborn infant population. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for providing such nutrition to newborn infants, and further to provide a method of reducing the occurrence or extent of insulin resistance later in the life of those infants, and further to provide a method of reducing the occurrence of atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease in those infants later in life, wherein all such methods are directed to the use of the newborn infant formulas of the present invention.
These and other objectives of the present invention are described hereinafter in greater detail.